Costco Cuisine

Sunday, January 4, 2015

The New Year started out a bit cold so I thought I would warm us up with some chicken soup. I pulled some chicken and a quart of homemade chicken stock out of the freezer. While the stock was thawing, I cooked up some Christopher Ranch Chopped garlic and some onion in EVOO. After that was cooked up a bit, I added chopped carrots and then onions.

Once all the veggies were properly cooked, I added the stock, quinoa and chopped chicken. Seasoning the soup was pretty easy, I just added a nice amount of freshly ground black pepper (from Costco) and some Herbs de Provence. A few minutes of simmering and I was done.

Adding the quinoa instead of noodles made this more nutritious and higher in fiber than adding noodles. (It also made it gluten free). But this was still good old-fashioned comfort food that fit in perfectly for a cold winter's night in Michigan.

Delicious, easy, quick and nutritious, it was a great Sunday night supper and it will be wonderful leftovers this week for lunch.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

It has been a long time but I am ready to start blogging again. Sorry about being away for so long. Lots of things have happened but let's get back to business with a quick post.

My wife has been busy this week making Christmas cookies for the family and I was out of town at a concert last night, so there wasn't a lot of time to make dinner tonight.

My lovely wife pulled some Pacific brand Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup out of the cupboard and cooked up some Earthly Choice Italian Pearled Farro. After the farro was cooked, she drained itand added it to the soup, along with some kale from the farmer's market and a pinch of salt.

While the soup alone is tasty, adding the farro and kale made it into a complete meal in one bowl. It was satisfying and warm for a December night in Michigan. And it was pretty too. Definitely a success and it will make for lovely leftovers.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

If June Cleaver had ever made the Beaver and Wally grilled cheese sandwiches, I am sure it would have been with some sort of white bread with possibly/probably some type of processed cheese product.

I do realize that type of sandwich is a treasured comfort food of many people's youth and I am not putting it down. But I do find it enjoyable to put new spins on comfort food and have a fresh yet sentimental experience.

My wife and I are big fans of Jarlsberg cheese and I thought it would make a great base for a grilled cheese sandwich. To further enhance the flavor and variety, we caramelized some onions in butter. Finally, we used a hardy whole wheat bread with a bit of dijon mustard. We put it all together and after a few minutes on the Griddler we were ready for hot, cheesy deliciousness.

My wife and I both agreed this worked very well. Jarlsberg is an excellent cheese for melting and we love the flavor and texture.

I am sure there are more sandwiches in our future with melted Jarlsberg.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

I do realize it has been a long time between posts and I hope to get back into the saddle again in terms of posting more frequently. While we have been cooking and eating lots of Costco foods, I just haven't been putting those efforts online. In any case, here is a dish I made for myself and my wife that she described as "lovely". She also described it as "savory" and "comfort food".

Previously, we have enjoyed Giovanni Rana Butternut Squash Ravioli from Costco but now they are carrying the Pasta Prima brand of this type of pasta. These are both excellent products, although the Pasta Prima ravioli is somewhat more subtle in its flavor profile. In any case, it is a great product that is easy to use and very affordable at Costco. We definitely try to keep some on hand and while we use it fresh, it also freezes very well.

The preparation was very simple. I melted a stick of butter in the pan with some olive oil and then added a healthy portion of the garlic. I browned the garlic until it was nicely sweet and caramelized. Then I added the pepper, the dried herbs and the shredded cheese. After a few moments, I added the ravioli and we were set.

After serving, we garnished it with a bit more cheese. The carmelized and sweet garlic went well with the butternut squash ravioli. Also, it was a simple sauce with a few prominent flavors that complemented each other. This was a satisfying and easy dish and it came together in minutes. This is definitely something we will make again and if you served it with something else, you might even entertain with it.

And the price was right too. I checked out the local grocery store and they were asking $4.19 for eight ounces of this ravioli, while Costco charges less than $10 for 36 ounces, which is quite a savings. So once again, Costco is an affordable source of delicious food.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

We have enjoyed the La Brea Torta Rolls before and with them on sale this month, we had to buy a package. They are versatile and we had no problem going through the whole package. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner using them and all of the meals were tasty, easy and affordable.

For breakfast, I scrambled some eggs from Costco, put the eggs on one half of the roll and topped the eggs with Jarlsberg cheese. After a few moments in the toaster oven, I topped it with the second half of the torta roll. The cost of two rolls was $1 and I used four eggs. Even with the price of the cheese, the total cost for both sandwiches was less than $2 and it took less time then running out to a fast food restaurant. Plus, the flavor was simply excellent.

It has been a while since I have had sloppy joes, so I thought that would be a fun idea. We had ground beef in the freezer from Costco ready to go, so I was part of the way through the dish already. I sauteed some onions with some Christopher Ranch garlic and then I added some chopped tomatoes and a small can of tomato sauce. My wife seasoned it with some dry horseradish and some other spices and we were good to go.

These were pretty darn good sloppy joes. Using fresh tomatoes certainly made this a fresher, healthier and tastier dish than anything you will get out of a can. Also, my wife's ideas on seasoning it worked well too. Plus, we had some leftovers for dinner.

Speaking of fresh tomatoes, we love them with the Belgioiso Fresh Mozzarella. So why not make a sandwich with them? First, we started with a torta roll and put some Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto and some fresh mozzeralla on it.

Then we added some freshly cut meat from a rotisserie chicken.

Next came the tomato.

Then we assembled it and we were ready to go.

Again, another home run of a sandwich that came together in moments and was absolutely delicious. Plus, it was pretty also.

We weren't done with the idea for these rolls though. My wife made a chicken salad sandwich using many of the same ingredients as above, plus some onion.

As you can see, we got some great use out of these torta rolls and they made making a total of five different meals ( since we got two out of the sloppy joes) easy, affordable and delicious.

Friday, September 6, 2013

This time some of our frozen rotisserie chicken was added along with some fresh herbs and then served on top of Costco romaine lettuce.

This was a tasty, bright and satisfying summer dish that came together in minutes. This is definitely going to be made again and it certainly had a great payback reward in terms of the time and money spent on it.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

We love Caprese Salad over the summer with farm fresh tomatoes and that means occasionally we have some leftovers. Recently, we were making mini-meatloafs and the idea came up that we should set aside some of the meat to make hamburgers and use the left over salad with the burgers.

This idea worked very well. It was a juicy burger with some fun and different toppings with very little effort involved. This was a great success and the burger looked so good that I rushed photographing it and just got straight to eating it!

This Labor Day Weekend, I highly recommend experimenting with a Caprese Salad Burger.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

We felt compelled to buy the Chicken Alfredo since it is such a great deal on sale. However, we felt serving something on the side made some sense, so my lovely wife made a Caprese Salad on a bed of romaine lettuce. Aside from being a tasty combination, it was also very pretty.

This meal came together pretty quickly and it had a variety of flavors and textures. Having romaine lettuce and mozzarella cheese from Costco also made this very affordable.

If you are looking for a way to spruce up your alfredo, I highly recommend this combination.

To make a total chicken salad out of it she added some beans and herbs to make it more rounded and varied. She then served them on top of those wonderful miniature peppers you get at Costco.

Aside from being a tasty combination with a variety of textures, it was also a very pretty dish.

After eating this with total relish I suggested we do something similar but instead stuff some tomatoes. She also thought that was a great idea and here is the finished dish.

Aside from being delicious and pretty, this was also very portable and made a fabulous lunch for the next day. In fact, my wife took some of these over to my mother and she liked them too.

As I said, having the cooked chicken ready to go is a winning strategy, but combining it with fresh vegetables during the summer is an absolute home run. We will continue to enjoy fresh veggies for a while and I am sure some more chicken from the freezer will make its way into our meals to compliment the summer bounty of fresh produce.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

We are always on the lookout for fun new foods at Costco and when we saw Fischer & Wieser's Original Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce, we were so intrigued we had to buy it.

This is a versatile sauce with the right balance of heat, sweet and other flavors. We have used it as a dipping sauce, a topping on meatloaf, an ingredient in meatloaf and other uses. It is also lower in sodium than some other condiments, so for people that are watching their salt that is a bit of a plus.

Prep Time: 15 minutesChill Time: 2 hours2 cups canned Mandarin orange segments, well drained and roughly chopped1 small red onion, diced1 cupFischer & Wieser The Original Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce®1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice1 bunch cilantro, leaves and tender stems chopped4 chile pequins (more or less to taste-Note: I had a hard time finding these and omitted themCorn tortilla chipsCombine all ingredients in a medium–sized bowl and stir to blend well. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Transfer salsa into serving bowl and serve alongside a basket of corn tortilla chips.Makes about 3 1/2 cups.The prep of this salsa was ridiculously easy and the reward on my time and money was excellent. It really did have a nice bit of zip but the raspberry and orange flavors gave it some wonderful variety. I brought this into work and it got rave reviews and one person already asked me for the recipe. In fact, they even took a picture of it with their iPhone and emailed it to me.

This sauce is a seasonal item in most Costco stores so if it is gone now, don't worry, it should be back again. I would encourage you to post about this on their Facebook page and let them know what a great product this is.I have added Fischer & Wieser to my links section so you can check out other ideas for this magnificent, versatile and affordable (at Costco prices!) product.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

With the kitchen remodel we went through recently, I fell out of the habit of doing updates because frankly we were doing very little cooking while the kitchen was tore apart. Then after that was done other distractions came around, but now it is time to get back to blogging.

Costco has their Kirkland Signature Braided Apple Strudel on sale this month and I have to say it is a must buy. At full price, it is a good deal, it is certainly a better value than buying pastries at a bakery or out of a vending at work. On sale, it is an absolute bargain. It is a well made strudel with a good quantity of apple filling and well executed and flaky crust.

While we had some as-is for breakfast during the week, I thought that kicking them up a notch on the weekend was a great idea. To do this, we heated them up in the toaster oven.
After they were a cozy, warm temperature we got some nice vanilla ice cream and served them a la mode.

This worked wonderfully. It was easy, delicious and indulgent. I wouldn't suggest this on a daily basis, but for a special occasion or just because you feel you need a pampering, I highly recommend this.

I guarantee you that every time we buy the strudel, we will be thinking about doing this!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

I have seen these at Costco for quite a while now and with the coupon this month for them, I decided to take the plunge and I am glad I did!

These are a great product. Yes, you can tell while eating them that they are not a full fat, full calorie ice cream sandwich but they cover this up very well.

The ice cream portion has a good vanilla flavor and texture and the cookie has good chocolate flavor and a typical mouth feel.

The box includes 20 sandwiches: 10 vanilla and 10 cookies and cream flavor. The you can definitely taste the cookie in the cookie and cream flavor, so the box does have some real variety in it.

And being that these are ice cream sandwiches, portion control is built in. You have one sandwich and you are done.

This is a great sweet treat for people of all ages and I highly recommend them from a taste and low fat/low calorie standpoint. I also recommend them from a monetary angle: even at full price they are less than 50¢ a serving, so they are a very affordable desert or treat. Certainly, compared to the price of going out for ice cream, they are a huge bargain.

I would think my best endorsement would be the fact that I bought a second box!

Thursday, March 14, 2013

The other day while on the way home from work I called my wonderful wife and asked if she needed any help with planning dinner. She said she was open to ideas and I suggested that she pull some of the frozen pork we had in the freezer and serve them in a piccata sauce. She was immediately thrilled with this prospect and set to work.

When I got home, I found out she took the idea and ran magnificently with it! She took some pork loin chops, sliced them up and made a piccata sauce to go with them. This was a great start but where she made it into a home run was by serving it with some Giovanni Rana Butternut Squash Ravioli that we got at Costco.

But then, as impressive as this was, she dressed it with some raw peppers and some lemons slices which made the dish even tastier and it also made for a beautiful presentation.

The butternut squash ravioli had a slightly sweet flavor and a gentle texture that complimented the piccata sauce well. Adding the peppers gave some more bright flavors that went well with the dish and added another layer of texture to it. Plus, as I said already, it made for a simply beautiful presentation.

This dish was a success in every way: fast, delicious, some real nutritional value and lovely to look at. My wife and I were both overjoyed with the results. This is definitely one of the best dishes we have had in the last year.

The only negative is that when I went back last Saturday to buy more of the butternut squash ravioli, they didn't have it any more!

Hopefully, Costco will carry it again soon. And when I do see it again, I will buy a bunch to freeze.

Given how wonderful their Butternut Squash Ravioli is, I added Giovanni Rana to my links section.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

I saw this on sale for this month and I felt compelled to try it. And you know what, I am glad I did! This is a great product that I will buy again and given that it has a good shelf life, I will probably buy some more of it while it is on sale and stock up!

This delicious treat has a lot going for it. As you can see in the photo, it really does have a lot of almonds in it. It is truly "almond bark" not just "bark with some almonds."

It also has a very balanced flavor to it. It is not overly sweet so it will appeal to those that like dark chocolate but it is sweet enough for those of us (like me!) that prefer milk chocolate. The texture is good and as I said, it definitely has a lot of almonds in it.

My wife loved it, I loved it, all my friends at work loved it. And some even thought it was homemade, although I was honest and told them I bought it at Costco.

If you like chocolate and nuts, this is a product that is definitely worth buying. It gets my full recommendation as an indulgence!

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Last month when the pork loin was on sale, we stocked up. We bought a bunch of the chops and froze them in pairs in bags so we have them in easy to use portions in the future. We also bought a whole loin and my wife cooked it in the slow cooker with some wine and some of the Robert Rothschild Farm Cherry Pomegranate Habanero sauce that we bought at Costco. Because of the wine in the recipe, she calls this drunken pork. It takes about three minutes to get it ready to go in the crock pot.

She then cooked it for about eight hours on low and it certainly looked and smelled good when it was done.

In addition to smelling and tasting good, the finished pork was very tender and it was practically falling apart.

This recipe is very versatile. You just vary the wine and other seasonings to get a different flavor profile. The pork itself is also has a wide range of uses. The first day we had the pork just the way it was made but then later on we made some barbecued pork sandwiches by simply heating the pork up with some of our favorite barbecue sauce.

You can also use this in a stir-fry, a soup or in as many different ways as you can imagine. After we had had it a couple or so times, I took the rest of it, cut it into bite sized chunks and froze a few packages of it for future use. Now, in addition to the chicken and ground beef in our freezer, we also have some tasty pork.

Pork loin is generally a versatile and affordable meat and this is a great way to cook it. It is easy, effortless and the prep time is a few minutes. Then you have some great pork to eat as is and some tasty meat in the freezer for future use.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

One of my favorite episodes of "Good Eats" is the "Oat Cuisine" show. While I love the humor of the segment on how to make a haggis, the true value of the episode is that they point out the wonders and joys of cooking with oats.

We enjoy oatmeal but let's face it, traditional instant oatmeal is hardly the best that this cuisine has to offer. When we saw this fast version of steel cut oats at Costco, we had to try them and we are totally pleased.

This is definitely a hybrid product. It is not "instant oatmeal", it takes a few minutes to cook but it is vastly faster than making normal steel cut oats. As for the taste and texture, as I said, we are totally pleased. They are definitely much heartier than you standard instant oatmeal with a very satisfying flavor.

They also take "kicking up" well with cranberries, cinnamon and vanilla. I also plan on adding maple syrup, apples and other fruits and flavorings.

This product is an absolute winner and my wife and I recommend it with complete enthusiasm.

I have been asked for the nutritional information, here is a link to it.

And we will absolutely be stocking up on the salmon on sale. Here is one of my favorite posts about how you can make a wonderful, tasty, attractive dinner with very little time and effort with this great product.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

After a bit of a winter hiatus, I am back with a post that is good for a cold night. We recently made a fine pot of chili in the crockpot using some ground beef from Costco. Chili is a pretty typical dish with ground beef but that is not what this post is about. My lovely wife decided it needed some accompaniment and she got creative with some Pillsbury Cresecent Rolls we bought from Costco.

She laid out the dough flat and added a piece some Smoked Coastal Cheddar from Costco and a large walnut piece. She then folded it over into a pretty square and baked it about the normal time according to the package.

Here is a photo of the one of them broken in half.

Aside from being attractive these were also easy, tasty and quick. When having soups, stews or chili, it is nice to have a bread product to help make it a full meal and this worked fabulously. I have to say these were a great return on investment in terms of both time and money. Also, they were a great way to use some of a large multipack of Crescent Rolls.

I am sure we will do something like this again and these would also make a cute and easy appetizer for a party or a potluck.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

The other day I was talking to my wife and she asked if I had any ideas about dinner. I said how about some tuna, artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes served over pasta. My wife was pleased with my suggestions and when I got home, that is what was ready for dinner.

Aside from the above ingredients, she also added some ground pepper, some garam marsala and some tumeric. For pasta, she used some spaetzle we had on hand.

We were both very pleased with how well this turned out. The tuna, artichoke hearts and tomatoes all worked well together and my wife's seasoning of it gave it some zing and character. And aside from being easy and flavorful, this had a great blend of textures.

This was definitely a "very Costco dish" since the tuna, artichoke hearts and tomatoes all came from Costco. And certainly, I would say this would work with a variety of noodles and pastas.

I am pretty confident something like this will show up at our dinner table again.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

We are big fans of the Antico Artichoke and Asiago Tapenade at Costco and recently my wonderful wife surprised me with a dinner of savory french toast featuring this as an ingredient. In addition to the tapenade, she used eggs, fresh herbs and soy milk. (The soy milk and eggs also came from Costco).

The looks and the smell of this had me intrigued even before I tasted it and my expectations were certainly met!

This was a wonderful and easy midweek dinner that was a great change of pace. It was also a good use of some bread and other ingredients we had laying around. The actual dish had a good french toast texture and the tapenade's flavors blended well with the fresh herbs.

I hope to see this on our dinner table again and if you have some bread you don't know what to do with, this is a fantastic use of it.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Generally, I tend to eat simple cereals like frosted shredded wheat, raisin bran and such. However, this granola looked pretty tasty so I thought I would give it a try. I have to say that I am very pleased with it.

It comes in a two pouches in one box. A lot of cereals seem to be doing that these days and if you don't eat the cereal fast, this helps it from going bad. I suppose it is also makes it easier to work with than one big bag.

As for the cereal's nutritional profile, it had a good quantity of fiber at 20% of your daily requirement per serving. It also has low sodium if you are watching that. Finally, the only allergen mentioned on the label is soy, although they have the caveat that this is made in a facility that uses tree nuts, peanuts and wheat.

As for the taste and texture of the cereal, it is, being a granola, nice and crunchy. The pumpkin seeds make it more interesting that your typical granola in the area of taste. While the cereal is good just by itself, I have discovered it is absolutely delicious with dried cranberries. My wife followed my lead on this and she definitely thinks that while the cereal is great plain, the craisins add a lovely touch.

My wife and I both give this cereal two big thumbs up and I highly recommend stocking up on it while it is on sale. This is a flavorful cereal, low in sodium, with a good quantity of fiber and it is a great change of pace.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

We have bought a variety of baked goods at Costco and I thought the Tiramisu Cake that is on sale this month looked like a great thing to take over to our friend's house for a casual get-together. I have to say I was definitely pleased with the decision. Before we get in to how fun it was to eat, I have to say it does make for a pretty presentation.

As the cake is very rich, even a small slice, like the one below, is satisfying.

As for the reviews of the cake, my brother in law used the word "yummy" and I would concur with that. The flavors are balanced with the coffee/expresso flavor being well presented without being overpowering.

The combination of the textures were also very good with the smooth filling and topping contrasting and complimenting the cake.

The cake was very well received and we had some more again last night at my in-laws, who have also been won over by it. This cake is a good value at full price and an outstanding value on sale and I absolutely, positively recommend it without hesitation.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Many of the readers of this blog will know that we are big fans of quinoa. It is nutritious, tasty, versatile and easy to make. (We usually make it in a microwave rice cooker). The other day we made some to go with a rotisserie chicken and we made enough so we would have some left over for another use. That "future use" turned out to be a ground beef soup.

We bought another package of ground beef and before we froze it, we took some of the beef and the liquid from the cooking and used it as a base for a soup. We also added some onions, celery and carrots, plus a bit of seasoning and some quinoa.

This dish came together in minutes, it has some solid nutritional value and it sure was tasty! Having the right ingredients around speeds up any food preparation and this is a classic example of that. It also illustrates the value of quinoa as a soup ingredient. Aside from being nutritious and tasty, this also helps make the dish gluten-free for those that have that requirement.

As I said, we are big fans of quinoa and I am pleased to add another fine blog to our list of links: Queen of Quinoa. This is a wonderful blog with lots of great recipes and I hope that you will take the time to visit it.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Costco has Quaker Chewy Granola bars on sale this month in the Coupon Book. Even at full price of $10.99 for a box of sixty, they are a bargain. On sale, they are an absolute steal! They are tasty, easy and quick to eat and they are decent nutritionally. Have a couple of these and add in a banana and you have breakfast for less than 50¢.

Compare this to an Egg McMuffin and you have a huge cost and fat gram savings. Over the course of the year of eating a breakfast like this on the way to work would save you over $500 and over 2300 grams of fat! Plus, you get more fiber, although I will admit an egg is a great source of protein.

Also, these are easy to store in your car for a breakfast on the go and it saves you the hassle of stopping at a drive through to get breakfast.

Thus, you save massive amounts of:

Time

Money

Fat

I highly recommend these granola bars and if you eat breakfast on your way to work or school, these are a fantastic option.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

While we primarily buy our food at Costco to take home, we also often like to get a snack or a quick lunch before we head home. Not too long ago, Costco added a hot turkey and provolone sandwich to their food court menu. Anything with hot melted cheese sounds good to me, so I had to try one!

This is a good sandwich. The choice of bread for this works very well in terms of flavor, texture and construction of the sandwich. I am definitely glad that they chose a bread that makes the process of eating this sandwich relatively neat.

The quality of the ingredients used in the sandwich are certainly up to par and that really helps to make this a success. I like that they added the tomato, that made really helps make it seem like more of meal than just a couple of pieces of bread with some meat and cheese.

Finally, choosing turkey and provolone for the meat and cheese is a good idea. Turkey goes well with provolone but it is considered a healthier meat, so people will feel less guilty about eating it.

I enjoyed the sandwich and I will order it again, but the one negative is that at $3.99 it is not as good a value as the hot dog or the pizza by the slice. However, It is still a good value and a great change of pace.